Tech with context is key to fight climate change in Indian cities: Shruti Narayan, Managing Director, C40 Cities - The Indian Express

Tech with context is key to fight climate change in Indian cities: Shruti Narayan, Managing Director, C40 Cities | Technology News - The Indian Express

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Data and AI will play a big role in coming up with new solutions for climate-related problems in Indian cities, says Shruti Narayan, Managing Director, Regions and Mayoral Engagement at C40 Cities, a global nonprofit which has built an international network of cities that are working to confront the climate crisis.

C40 Cities has in its fold nearly 100 member cities, making up more than 22 percent of the global economy. In India, their member cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.

C40 Cities work on climate action plans, including climate budgeting, advocacy, financing green transition, youth engagement, and scaling up of climate action. They work in the areas of air quality, energy and buildings, food systems, transportation, ports and shipping, urban planning, and design and waste management.

Shruti spoke to indianexpress.com on the need for data-driven decision making in Indian cities to tackle climate change, the challenges of implementing tech solutions, and initiatives like climate budgets. Edited excerpts:

Shruti Narayan: We are a global nonprofit and Bloomberg Philanthropies was one of our core funders, but now others too have stepped up their funding and our focus is on cities in the global south. C40 Cities is a unique organisation for cities, and the strategic direction is given by city leaders or mayors. The co-chair of C40 Cities is the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Freetown in Sierra Leone.

We are now a global network of city leaders of nearly 100 cities that focus on the climate crisis and are trying to resolve it in an inclusive manner. One must understand that cities form two per cent of the world’s landmass but are responsible for 70-80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. They are also responsible for generating 70-80 per cent of the GDP. A large amount of the climate risk is also borne by cities.

Our focus in India is on providing data-driven climate assessments for Indian city leaders, like a greenhouse gas inventory, which provides a baseline assessment to understand further changes. We also assess and predict what the condition would be if it was business as usual, and how the situation could worsen going forward. We work on mitigation strategies and look to realign the city planning or execution process towards climate-friendly goals.

We also work with Indian cities on climate change risk assessment where we study heat, water, drought, flood, and rising sea water risks. We build or deploy tech-enabled tools to collate data, project the trajectory and work on the city’s climate action plans. We do risk assessments and study challenges in adaptation to climate risks, all using tech-enabled platforms. We extensively use GIS mapping to provide solutions on heat mapping, greening, and greenhouse gas inventory. We have a rigorous process of framing climate action plans and work with cities to develop solutions.

Shruti Narayan: One of our innovations is a climate budget for cities, and Mumbai was the first city to undertake it. It might look like something connected with finance and budgeting, but a lot of tech-enabled, data-driven decision making goes into such a budget.

Mumbai became one of the 13 cities globally to be a part of C40’s Cities’ climate budget pilot programme in September 2021. One of the main objectives of the pilot was to bring climate into the mainstream ideas of governance. In 2022, Mumbai published its Climate Action Plan, which serves as a roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the city. The climate budget is not an independent entity but seeks to prioritise the climate-centric commitments of the corporation and integrate them into the city’s budget.

In Bengaluru, we are involved in an on-ground programme on waste management at the ward level, where we bring in different stakeholders together in an inclusive manner. We also partner with

We earlier did a pilot project in Mumbai, evaluating the utility of low-cost sensors, and it involved a first-of-its-kind assessment in India of lower-cost air monitoring sensors from November 2020 to May 2021. We wanted to incorporate low-cost sensors into the air quality management system in Maharashtra, and showcase this as a model for national adoption. It was also to develop a robust machine-learning-based method for the calibration of PM2.5 low-cost sensors.

Learnings from this pilot have led to an increased interest from other states and cities; the findings of the study have thrown open the possibility of expanding the country’s monitoring network at a fraction of the existing cost.

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Shruti Narayan: We do not work with startups in the traditional manner as an incubator, accelerator or as a direct funder. However, in many of our programmes for our climate action plans or specifically in our work on the electric freight sector, we work with them. We are also working with startups on the issue of solid waste landfills.

Shruti Narayan: Data and AI will play a big role in coming up with new solutions for the problems we face in Indian cities. The solution might not lie in a core tech product, but tech-enabled solutions using data and AI. There could also be new solutions in a wide variety of fields, from photovoltaics to IoT solutions.

However, what we require is good quality data for AI and tech to work and come up with solutions. We need robust data to understand the problem, form policy and bring all stakeholders to arrive at a solution. We would also require a large number of IoT devices for early warning systems, either for heat stress, floods, or other disasters.

Shruti Narayan: C40 Cities is committed to turning data into climate action that is impactful. Through C40’s networks, partnerships, programmes and access to global city data, we conduct research and analysis on key areas across the entire environmental sector. This includes climate adaptation, air quality, energy and buildings, food systems, transportation, urban planning, waste management, green job creation, green finance, and more.

Shruti Narayan: They should look at using more tech in their monitoring, evaluation and research. The key is to build data-centric dashboards for policymakers which would incorporate the data from a large number of sensors tracking greenhouse gas inventory or those which are there for early warning systems.

Cities are interested in deploying lower-cost air quality sensing solutions, with the growing availability of affordable sensor options. The affordable air quality sensor market presents opportunities, but city managers need to be sensitised to the options around network installation, data management, and communication processes. However, without clear information or guidance on data reliability, project cost and product lifetime, city managers may face hurdles in successfully deploying such sensors.

Shruti Narayan: Integrated photovoltaics and integrated wind turbines are two things that did not take off in India, not because the tech was not robust enough but because the return of investment was not visible. Moreover, there is an Indian context and tech providers need to tailor their tech for specific Indian situations. It is not the tech per se but the context of the tech that is critical.

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